Float trap



April 2o ,1926. 1,581,294

E, A. RUSSELL ET A.v

FLOAT TRAP I gf mi l A mumllui e mllilll lllNllflf I N, I I

Ovpgys.

lPatented Apr. 20, 1926.

UNirsn s-'uariis `P ailalvi* OFFICE. i

EDWARD RUSSELL, OF CHICAGO, AND PAUL B, PARKS, OF OAK PARK,.ILLINOISyAS-f y SIG-HORS TO VAPOR CAR-HEATING COMPANY, INC., OFCHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A COR- PORATIOIN 0F NEW YORK.

Q f yFLO/Afr TRAP.

Original application iled July 28, 192.3, Serial N o. 654,452.. lDvidedand this application iled April- 9,

1925. Serial No. 21,810.

To all'whomc't may concern:

Be it known that we, EDWARD A. RUSSELL and PAUL B'PARKS, citizens of theUnited States, residing at Chicago, Illinois, land Oak Parli, Illinois,respectively, have in;y

modified by connecting the chamber receiving Water through the wateroutlet ofthe g coil directly with the drip port 'chamber vvented certainnew and` useful Improve# ing is a specification.

This invention relates toa float trap def.

signedto permit the discharge of water or other liquid therethroughvwhile maintaining a liquid seal against the escape oi vapor,y

such as steam. The device is particularly designed 1i"or 'use in'connection lwitha car heating .system of the I general constructionshown in the patent to E. A. Russell, No. 1,440,701, granted January 2,1923. The present application is a ldivision of ourprior` application,Seriall 654,452,iiled July 2S, 1923.

Russell patent referred to above, circulation through the radiating coilis controlled byavvalve device having a centrally arranged .revolublevalve body and constructed so that 'in one position of the valve bodysteam isadmitted to the inletend of the radiating coil., and water ofcondensation withdrawnjfrointhe coil at the return end tlieifeoitandalso.A at a point intermediate thefends oi' the coil, while in anotherposition of the valve body l the, inlet and outlet ends of the*coiliareQ closed'and steam .is shortfcircuited ronithe' low pressureside of the vapor regulator, dif, rectly to the thermostat 'chamber ofsaid' regulator; In order to provide for discharging the water ofcondensation received in the chamber to which the interinediate wateroutlet from the coil is connected,

this chamber (in the patentedy valve) `is in jV communication with thechamber connected with the thermostat casing. of the vapor regulatorthrough a duct in tlie bottoinof the float trap and the control valve of`the the` valve casing arranged so as to be atall times vtherethrough ofsteam atthe low pressures that the valve is designed tolian'dle. 1

This 'arrangement may be objectionable under some conditions, because ofthe; danmore particularly 'because'of the likelihood ments in FloatTraps, of .which the iollow- In the car heating system 'disclosed intlief to hereinabove.

Water-sealed against the passage float trap `is connected.

control valve, taken substantially on the line ger of the water freezingin the duct 'and of thev duct becoming clogged other foreign matter.

According to the present improvement', as"

lirst disclosed inour prior 'application Serial 654,452, theconstruction of the valvel is the improved valve, constitutingin fact aAs iiiglechamber,A and by` providing aj float .valve voif'improvedconstruction 'Which-will allow the escape of Water from the drip portchamber while preventing'outflow ofsteam.

This improved valve, or fiioat trap, forms j the particularvsubject-matterof the presentA This valve' is simple in con- A structionand entirely automatic `-in opera# 7 tion, and will permit the freedischarge therethrough of water at Aall times, only application.

enough water being trapped within the valve casing to effectively sealthe trap against the escape of steam. The lower'portions of the valve,and of the valve casing, have 'inter-A iitting conical formations,whereby if the small body of water trapped therebetweeny should freeze,it will merely raise the valve and not crush it. vVVhile/thi's iioattraplisV particularlyr useful in a carheating system such as brieflydescribed above, it isequally adapted for use wherever thedischarge of aliquid from anyfsealed vaporfcontaining sysd tem is; desired.

Additional objects and advantages of this i improved device will beapparent from the following detailed description of the Yim- -provedfioattrapA in connection with a poltion of a car heating system such asreif-erred In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a central vertical section through car heating system, withwhich valve? the .Fig. 2 is a horizontal section through the 2--2 ofFig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a central vertical selctionthrougli isb mately 450 to theglane of Fig. 1. The plane ot Fig. 3 is substantially indicated by theline 3--3 on Fig. 4. i

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section on an enlarged scale, taken substantiallyon the line 4-4 of Fig. 1, and looking in the direction of the arrows.

The control valve for the car heating system comprises a casing 10having a central circular space 11 in which is arranged a revolublevalve body 12 consisting otl an upper disk 13, a lower disk 14 andvertical webs 15 and 16. The valve body is provided with a stem 17 bymeans of which the valve is rotated from above by means of mechanism nothere shown. The space within the casing 10 around the valve body isdivided by webs into chambers a, ZJ, c, fl, and e, each of which opensinto the central space 11 in which the valve body is located.

Steam flows from the train supply pipe through the vapor regulator, andthen through pipe. 19 to chamber a. Pipe 2O Aleads from chamber b to thecar heating radiator.

' A pipe 21 leads from a point intermediate the ends of the radiatorcoil to chamber c. The return end of the radiator discharges throughpipe 22 into chamber (l. A pipe 23 leads from chamber e to thethermostat casing of the vapor regulator.

It will be observed that the apparatus operates like the ordinary vaporcar heating system except that while the radiator is receiving steam,water of condensation may be discharged therefrom, not only at thereturn end of the coil, but also at a point intermediate the. inlet andreturn ends thereof. TWith the parts of the apparatus in the positionsshown in the drawings, steam passes through pipe 19 into chamber a, thenthrough space 11 to chamber l), and through inlet pipe 20 to theradiator coil. After traversing the first section of the coil, water ofcondensation is discharged through pipe 21 into valve chamber c, theAsteam passing on through the second section of the radiator coil. Themedium (either water, steam or a mixture of water and steam) dischargedfrom the return end of the coil through pipe 22 into chamber (l, passesinto chamber e and thence through pipe 23 to the thermostat chamber ofthe vapor regulator. The condition of the medium discharged to thethermostat governs the operation of the pressure reducing valve of theregulator.

`When the valve body 12 is shifted from the full line position as shownin Fig. 2, to the dotted line position, steam entering chamber a passesdirectly into chamber e and then to the thermostat chamber of thelregulator. The radiator is thus short circuited and the steam thereinwhencondensed flows through pipes 20, 21 and 22 into chambers L, c andd, respectively, which chambers are now in communication with eachother. The water received by chamber c while the radiator is suppliedwith steam, and the water which passes into the valve chambers l), c andl when steam is cut off from the radiator, flows out from chamber cthrough a discharge duct 28 in the bottom wall 29 ot the valve casing,this duct leading to a drip pipe 3() screwed into a boss 31 on the underside of the valve casing.

Then steam is shut oli:1 from the radiator, there is no objection tohaving the water outlet from chamber c open to the atmosphere, butinasmuch as this chamber also provides for discharge of water ofcondensation t'rom an intermediate point in the coil while the system isunder steam, it is necessary to provide some means for pre.- venting theescape of steam from the valve at this point while permitting theoutflow of water. This is accomplished by providing the drip pipe 3()with a float valve 32 which is arranged in a float chamber casingsecured to the end ot the drip pipe. The iioat valve consists of ahollow sheet metal structure, the middle portion of which is cylindricalwhile the upper and lower ends 33 and 34 are conical. The float valvecasing 1s composed of an upper casing section 35 and a lower casingsection 36 which lat-V ter may have an internally threaded boss 37 foran outlet pipe 38. The upper section 35 ot the casing is provided withan externally threaded boss 39 'for attachment to drip pipe 30 by meansof the union 40. The upper wall 41 of casing section 35 is Jformed onits undersurface with radial grooves 42 providing segmental pads 43against which the upper end of the valve bears when the valve is raised.Lugs 44 are provided for guiding the upper end of the. valve. When thevalve is raised water may iiow down into the valve chamber within thecasing through the grooves 42, and between the lugs 44. The lower member36 of the float. valve casing is formed with a conical bottom 45 havinga central opening 46 therein, around which is formed a raised valve seat47. Member 36 is provided with a. vertically extending cylindrical guideflange 48 to guide the lower end of the valve. iiange is recessed, thatis, diminished in height at intervals, as indicated at 49, to pointsbelow the cylindrical portion of the valve, so as to allow water to flowint-o the space between the under surface of the valve and the conicalbottom of the casing.

The valve 32 is normally seated by gravity and by any pressure of steamthat there may be above it, which, however, is slight in a vapor systemof the type described. and when water is discharged from chamber f;- insuiiicient quantity to float the valve .32, port 46 will be opened toallow the discharge of water through outlet pipe 38. Only a small amountof water is trapped under the This valve, in the narrow space betweenthe inter- {itting conical portions 34 and 45 of the valve and valvecasing, and in case this water should freeze, its expansion will merelyraise the valve and not crush it.

While this float trap is particularly useful in connection with thecontrol valve for the vapor car heating system, as above vdescribed, itis obvious that it-may function in a like manner in any other .systemwhere it is desired to discharge liquid from a vapor-containing systemwithout permitting the escape of vapor through the liquid dischargepipe. All of such uses of the float trap are contemplated, and intendedto be covered by the following claims.

We claim:

1. A float Valve device comprising a valv chamber having an inletopening in the top and a discharge opening in the bottom, the

top and bottom being conical, and the under surface of the top formedwith substantially radial grooves, and a oat valve having conical endsin said chamber, and guide lugs projecting into the chamber for guidingthe valve without interfering with the iow of fluid therearound.

2. A float valve device comprising a valve Y valve is in loweredposition sealing the disf charge opening, and guide means projectinginto the casing for guiding the cylindrical portion of the valve andrcentering the conical ends thereof ywithin the conical portions ofthe'casing Without interfering with the .flow of fluid around the valve.

i EDWARD A. RUSSELL.

' PAUL B. PARKSj

